Kissing Under the Parasite

Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees, Motivated Mom has been pointing out to me the balls of mistletoe hanging in the barren tree branches.

I was surprised. Not that I had really thought about it before, but I guess I just always assumed that mistletoe was a shrub of some kind. Whenever I've seen a complete ball of mistletoe it has looked like something that's been pruned from a bush.

As I processed this new information I came to realize that if mistletoe grows high in tree branches, then the mistletoe must be getting its nutrients from the tree. That would mean that mistletoe is a parasitic plant.

I did some quick research and - sure enough - mistletoe is a parasite.

This new found information just totally changes the way I think about the Christmas tradition of kissing under the mistletoe.

I could sort of see the kissing tradition possibly having started from new loves huddling under an evergreen shrub in the winter to steal a kiss.

But kissing under a parasite? Yuck!